New Delhi: England allrounder Ben Stokes was the biggest purchase at the 2017 IPL player auction in Bangalore, finding his first Indian franchise in Rising Pune Supergiants who forked out Rs 14.5 crore for his services - more than seven times his base price - to make him the costliest overseas player in the league's decade-long existence.
The second highest earner on Monday was Stokes' England team-mate Tymal Mills, who went to Royal Challengers Bangalore for Rs 12 crore in his first appearance in the auction, and from a base price of 50 lakhs, to set a record for the most expensive specialist bowler in the IPL.
Of the 351 players up for auction, a total of 66 were sold at the end of the bidding round, of which 27 were overseas and 39 Indians, inclusive of 30 uncapped domestic players. Of the eight franchises, Supergiants spent the most money, Rs 17.2 crore out of possible 17.5 crore, followed by RCB (Rs 15.4 crore), Kolkata Knight Riders (14.35 cr), Delhi Daredevils (Rs 14.05 cr), Kings XI Punjab (9.45 cr), Sunrisers Hyderabad (8.65 cr), Mumbai Indians (8.2 cr) and lastly Gujarat Lions (Rs 3.85 cr).
Stokes was one of seven marquee players with a base price of Rs 2 crore, and within seconds his name rocketed upwards. Mumbai Indians started the bidding for Stokes, and for a good time held off frenzied bidding from Bangalore, Delhi Daredevils and defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad but a stunning late bid from Pune at 13.5 crore changed the tempo. Within a minute, all others backed out and Pune acquired the allrounder for a whopping price tag.
The Pune franchise entered the auction with a purse of 17.5 crore and spent over two thirds of that one on Stokes, who thus become the second most expensive player in auction history behind Yuvraj Singh, who went to RCB for 16 crore in 2015. Yuvraj, following the India v England series recently, had tipped Stokes to "earn millions" at the auction.
Mills, the England fast bowler with just four Twenty20 internationals to his credit, then found his name attracting plenty of interest from two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai and Delhi before RCB raised the stakes. Last year's losing finalists, who on the eve of the auction were left without the Australian left-arm quick Mitchell Starc, clearly wanted a shot of pace and did not hold back in bidding for 24-year-old Mills, a T20 franchise specialist who plays for Sussex in England and globally for Auckland, Brisbane Heat, Chittagong Vikings and Quetta Gladiators.
South African Kagiso Rabada and Kiwi Trent Boult were the most expensive fast bowlers after Mills as they were bought by Delhi Daredevils and Kolkata Knight Riders respectively for Rs 5 crore each. While Delhi also bagged Aussie pacer Pat Cummins for Rs 4.5 crore.
The other England player in his first IPL to earn big bucks was allrounder Chris Woakes, signed for Rs 4.2 crore by Kolkata, who sought to make up for the absence of suspended West Indies allrounder Andre Russell by vying fiercely for his services. Jason Roy went to Gujarat Lions for his base price of Rs 1 crore, but Alex Hales (base 1 crore) and Jonny Bairstow (base 1.5 crore) found no takers.
Australian pace bowler Nathan Coulter-Nile went to Kolkata for Rs 3.5 crore, the only other overseas player to find a price significantly higher than his base price (Rs 1 crore).
From the six-member Associates pool, Mohammad Nabi became the first cricketer from Afghanistan to join the IPL, purchased by Delhi for his base price of Rs 30 lakh, but it was his team-mate Rashid Khan who fetched a bid of Rs 4 crore from Hyderabad. During last year's ICC World Twenty20 held in India, Nabi was the leading wicket-taker with 12 scalps and Rashid second with 11.
Two Indians with international and IPL experience fetched multi-crore pay packets, Karn Sharma and Varun Aaron. Sharma, the Railways and India legspinner released by Hyderabad during the trading window, elicited a tussle between Mumbai and Gujarat and ended up with Mumbai for Rs 3.2 crore, having started off at 30 lakh. Aaron went to Punjab for Rs 2.8 crore from a base price of 30 lakh.
From the uncapped Indian players pool, among those to earn crore-plus deals were Tamil Nadu seam bowler T Natarajan with a price tag of Rs 3 crore from a base price of 10 lakh, to Kings XI Punjab; pace bowler Mohammad Siraj who went to Hyderabad for Rs 2.6 crore; K Gowtham, the Karnataka offspinner and useful lower-order batsman, who went to Mumbai Indians for Rs 2 crore from a base price of 10 lakh; the 27-year-old Rajasthan seam bowler Aniket Choudhary, to Bangalore for Rs 2 crore from a base of 10 lakh; and Murugan Ashwin, the Tamil Nadu offspinner, for Rs 1 crore to Delhi.
Of the seven marquee players, India's Ishant Sharma (base price 2 crore) was unsold at the end of the bidding rounds.
